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Ditto, "Ten Years Gone" shows all the elements which put the band head and shoulders above all others in their field.

090

I'm really pleased you're able to enjoy him (and hopefully many others) again. 💪🏻🙂

"Spotlight"is one of his best. 👍🏻

000

"How Great Thou Art" plus Louis Armstrong plus The Sex Pistols . . . Man, try the decaf. 😅😅😅😅

100

I bought this album this week thanks to your recommendation. I love it. Laid back but deceptively intricate music played with great precision. A lovely record. Thanks. 👍🏻

The greatest singer of them all. This is a superb recording, isn't it? I have so many Bennett albums, I just loved the guy. His 1971 LP "Love Story" is a masterclass, plus the two with Bill Evans etc. As you say, absolutely perfection, every time. 👍🏻

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I never got to grips with the later, short songs Genesis. Great musicians still, but commercial imperatives plus maybe a desire for a new audience etc pushed them away from my interest. Offer me "Seconds Out" however . . .

050

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

One of my favourites too. 👍🏻

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Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

He's always been a brilliant lyricist/songwriter. "The Last Ship" in particular includes some of his most imaginative work but there are too many great songs to pick just one.

080

My adolescence in every groove. The only LP I ever wore out and had to buy again.

I've just finished it (I have your previous two) and enjoyed it immensely. Al Capone being a six-footer is just one of the "what??!!" moments. Bravo. 👍🏻

000

A marvellous record, I bought it on release and still love it. 👍🏻

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I bought this LP on release and still love it. "How Can I Tell You" is gem of a lovely song, the whole album is a joy.

020

Such a versatile singer. I have the album she made with Duke Ellington, "Blue Rose". Ms Clooney was heavily pregnant at the time and her vocals were overdubbed as she couldn't travel to where Duke and the orchestra were.

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Never equalled. The confidence in this scene of long silences is typical of "Cheers", proper grown-up TV.

001

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Indeed. I was about 8 years old, an older neighbour had all of Cliff's 45rpm singles plus The Shadows. I think "Wonderful Land" was the first time an instrumental brought an emotional response in me. It's still a beautifully played recording.

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The Shadows' "Wonderful Land" will always catapult me back to childhood radio. 👍🏻

"Golden Slumbers" can bring a tear to the eye.

060

My usual knee-jerk response - "Doobies'!" is derailed here. It has to be "Dark Side" because it's faultless but the Doobies'/Zeppelin conundrum for second place . . . Man that's brutal. 🤔

050

There's no mention of Coltrane for a start.

What an extraordinary talent he was. There's a line in a Mary Chapin Carpenter song, "My spirit soars like a Gershwin clarinet", which is so redolent of this piece. He's been called "America's Mozart" which is actually not too wide of the mark.

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Another superb Redford movie with a haunting Dave Grusin score. 👍🏻

000

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I'd have to say Charlie Haden. 👍🏻

000

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I really enjoy Paolo's music. I also love "Brotherhood" by the Belmondo Quintet! Great taste! 👍🏻

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

#JazzSky #Jazz #GreatDebutAlbums #MusicSky Britain's finest jazz vocalist Claire Martin's 1992 debut album "The Waiting Game". Her masterful way with ballads stood out straight away but the uptempo numbers, with a great band including guitarist Jim Mullen and Clark Tracey on drums, are superb.

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Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I'm somewhat ambivalent about Johnny Hartman. I have his album with Coltrane and also "And I Thought About You" but, while obviously a fine singer, he falls somewhere between Billy Eckstine and Nat King Cole, occasionally sounding like a smoothy lounge singer, which is probably unfair, I concede.

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

"Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)" by Gladys Knight and The Pips is simply beautiful. Her vocals are heartrending.

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Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Interesting. This seems to be the same album I bought a long time ago here in France. "Jitterbug Waltz" as the opening track. Excellent record.

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I've seen the great Monty in concert a couple of times, a superb entertainer. At Brecon Jazz he once stood in for Hank Jones, who had been taken ill. I still remember his party piece, playing "Blue Moon" with his left hand and "How High the Moon" with his right. Just mesmerising.

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Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

He certainly is. Again, he was a new name to me but this album is really excellent. The WDR band is so reliable. Thanks.👍🏻

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I just discovered Agnes. The BBC series "Vigil" used one of her songs, (Fuel to the Fire)over the opening titles. I intend to investigate her albums.

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

One to investigate. Thanks. 👍🏻

Amazingly, The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus" was banned from radio play, not for perceived drug references but because it contained the word "knickers". Cover your ears, Mother!

A very good point regarding The endless complexities of human nature. A million shades of grey between the extremes. Artie Shaw obviously felt strongly about racial equality even while treating his partners badly. As you say, people are never either hero or villain, therein lies the fascination.

020

It's a perennial dilemma, isn't it? Many of my favourite musicians are guys I wouldn't want as houseguests, (Miles, for example) but do we stop appreciating the music? On the other hand, I rarely listen to Clapton after his anti-vax nonsense. Mysogyny always crosses the line for me.

The list is too long but weirdly, the earworm which recurs most often is "Magdalene Lane" by Don McLean.

050

Wow, that's a hell of a set list. It must have been five hours long! Bravo. 👍🏻

I didn't know that, although I can't say I'm surprised. I remember an interview in which he was less than complementary regarding his (I think) six wives. It's always difficult separating the artist from the art but mysogyny is a red line for me too.

I imagine being married to both Lana Turner and Betty Grable does something to a chap. . . 😄

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I've never been a fan of his band, a bit too "safe", somehow. Although I wouldn't go as far as Artie Shaw, who once commented that one of the great tragedies of music was that Glenn Miller hadn't lived and his music died. 😲

Brian White @brian36170.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

For sheer imagination, execution and blistering songwriting, it's up there with "Dark Side Of The Moon". A masterpiece.